Rite of Passage

Tala has been a spectator of the Mating Ceremony for the last 40 years. Now that she’s 135 she can participate in it. Tala wants no part of the ceremony where the Alpha and Betas get to choose a mate from the women who feel privileged to be chosen. Tala doesn’t feel privileged. Not even when the Alpha, Slade, chooses her to be the next Queen of her people. She wants to run away, but the best she can do is leave for a few days with the hunting party. Out on a hunt, an encounter with a bear l...